1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to insertion of advertisements or the like into content such as a movie.
2. Background Art
In present content distribution systems, advertisements are permanently, directly attached to the content with which they are distributed, on the same distribution medium. Rental video tapes typically contain several advertisements at the beginning of the tape, before the movie content begins. In general, the content itself will have a much longer “shelf life” than the advertisements. For example, consider a videotape or DVD copy of a highly successful motion picture, with a commercial at the beginning of the tape or DVD advertising a different movie which had not yet reached theaters at the time the tape was originally released, and which may thereafter have proven to be a complete flop. That videotape or DVD may be rented for dozens of years to come, with the now-pointless advertisement playing each time. As another example, consider a home videotape copy of a Superbowl football game, during which were shown: a commercial for a new model automobile, a commercial for a limited-time home mortgage offer, and a commercial for an after-Christmas furniture sale. Those commercials become useless quickly, in some cases in mere days.